How to Know a Person by David Brooks

★★★★☆ There’s a loneliness epidemic in America, and it’s having devastating consequences. I see the tragic impact that feeling isolated and misunderstood is having on college students in my daily work on a college campus. I thought How to Know a Person might give me some insight into how I could take steps in my own life to address this societal health crisis.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

★★★★☆ In this non-fiction book, the author, a journalist, goes undercover to see if she can make a living working a series of minimum-wage jobs. She travels to different cities and works as a domestic house cleaner, waitress, hotel maid, dietary aide at a nursing home, and sales clerk at Walmart. She sometimes holds multiple jobs at once and works seven days a week to be able to afford food and rent.